A STAGGERING £4.5m is owed to Huddersfield Magistrates' Court in unpaid fines. The shocking figure was obtained by the Examiner under the Freedom of Information Act.

The total amount owed to the court as of July 31, including fines, costs and compensation, is £4,413,169.32.

We can also reveal that Dewsbury Magistrates' Court is owed £1,103,659. Court officials insisted they were doing a good job getting the money in, despite the huge amount owing.

A national magistrates' spokesperson said collection rates had improved in recent years.

Cindy Barnett, chairman of the Magistrates' Association, said: "When magistrates impose a financial penalty as punishment for someone who is convicted of committing a crime, they expect the fine to be paid as expeditiously as possible.

"It is imperative that enforcement is swift. Magistrates impose the penalty to begin with and deal with matters if an unpaid fine comes back to court.

"There are now enforcement actions that take place outside court, eg. the clamping of someone's car if payments are not made, and recent payment rates nationally are improving."

Maureen Holmes, district operation director for the Courts Service in West Yorkshire said: "I would say that over the last three years fine enforcement has become very much high-profile and a lot has been done, a lot of work and time has been spent to ensure that fines are a priority and people realise they can lose their liberty for non-payment."

Mrs Holmes said the amount Huddersfield magistrates are owed could in part be due to large confiscation orders being imposed.

This is where courts order that assets gained through crime have to be handed over.

"If the assets of that particular individual have been generated by criminal activity the courts can order that they be confiscated.

"It might be cash in a bank account or a high value vehicle they'd bought, or a house."

She said as part of the confiscation order if they failed to pay up they could be sent to prison for a set number of days.

"If they don't sell the house or pass the money from the bank account to us, they will go to prison for that number of days."

Mrs Holmes added: "I think we have made big improvements. Over the last three years we have collected a lot more than we ever did.

"We're much more proactive now. I just think that now fines and compensation are very high-profile and I think we have got the message across that the fine won't go away and we will collect."

There are 7,735 `fine accounts' that are outstanding at Huddersfield.

Julie Collins, director of operations for the same organisation, added: "I think the only thing we can say is that the figure of £4.4m will include a small number of confiscation orders which are disproportionate.